Gilbert Keith Chesterton was among the big Edwardian men of letters and rubbed elbows with the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, and H. G. Wells. He is best remembered as the author of some fifty stories featuring a Catholic priest, Father Brown, who solves crimes by drawing on his knowledge of human nature. Born into the middle class London He did not learn to read until he was over eight and one of his teachers told him, "If we opened your head, we should not find brain but only a lump of white fat." Thankfully he didn't let that inane judgement stand in his way or the world would be a sadder place.

The original text of Wine and Water appeared in From The Flying Inn in 1914. Chesterton is poking fun at the the "bluestockings" (the aggressively moral minority). His style is characterized by witty and paradoxical epigrams on the surface, but also frequently point to deeper meanings. Although Chesterton was obstinately Catholic himself and might be expected to keep accord with fellow zealots, he came down with boldness and conviction against any restriction of an Englishman's right to ale, cider and wine. Which is of course the topic of satire here. The great sailor Noah loves his wine and no matter how the sea may slip and slop about to batter his ark he's a happy man as he tells his wife, "I don't care where the water goes, if it doesn't get into the wine."

Chesterton always assumes his readers are English, so a few of the references may need explanation:

Albert Herring says about Esiteddfod: "I think it was held on a Sunday; under (the) Methodist influence pubs in Wales didn't open on Sundays until pretty recently (as from some time in the 19th century). England was a bit laxer."

So here you have it. In "Wine and Water," Chesterton would have us believe Noah, said these words frequently to to his wife when he sat down to dine. But Chesterton never did let on as to whether Noah took along two of each wine, a white and a red.

Sources:

G. K. Chesterton:www.mtangel.edu/library/subject/chesterton.html

The Poet's Corner:http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/

Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/chester1.html#6